Celebrated Summer

The end of August is a real transitional period, the dog days of summer almost done, the August bank holiday marking an ending (and being the last bank holiday of the year before the dread C word comes around again), the threat of September and autumn close enough to feel- September is biggest calendar change marker apart from 1st January, the switch from one time to another, the return to school, the resumption of normality after the days of high summer. 

There's a melancholy to August that Bob Mould mounted and framed back in 1984 with what could be the standout song from an album not short of great moments, Husker Du's New Day Rising. Celebrated Summer opens with a distorted, ringing guitar riff. Grant and Greg come in and the three piece power into the song, rapid fire guitar chords and thumping drums, Husker's mix of melodies and punk. But then it breaks down, and Bob switches to a 12 string acoustic, suddenly closer to the microphone, tender and rueful. They smash back into the electric guitar and thundering rhythms but the cat's out of the bag, the energy of the hardcore scene now spliced with something else. After another minute of riffing and soloing, Bob at his mid- 80s best, the 12 string acoustic comes back for the ending, Bob asking, 'was that your celebrated summer?'

Celebrated Summer